The legendary Milwaukee Mile racetrack faces an uncertain future with its payments behind for NASCAR and Indy Racing League. The track promoters have not fully paid sanctioning fees owed to NASCAR and the IRL, according to reports in the Charlotte Observer and Indianapolis Star. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that promoters owed NASCAR nearly $1.9 million.
In a brief filed in U.S. District Court on Monday night, NASCAR contends that a test of Jeremy Mayfield’s urine samples at a second laboratory proved that the suspended owner/driver had an illegal drug in his system.
Mayfield and NASCAR are scheduled to be in U.S. District Court in Charlotte on Wednesday for the hearing on Mayfield’s request for an injunction seeking to stop the sanctioning body from suspending him until the driver’s suit can be heard by the court. NASCAR filed its brief Monday night in response to Mayfield’s brief in support of the injunction request filed Thursday.
Mayfield has argued that his May 1 test produced a false positive reading for methamphetamines, according to court documents. He contends the findings resulted from a combination of prescription drug Adderall, which is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and over-the-counter Claritin-D allergy medicine. NASCAR, which has not named the illegal drug it says Mayfield used, has asserted that could not be the case. Scenedaily
Joey Logano didn’t have the best car Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, made the best call in the rain-shortened race. Logano, 19, became the youngest driver ever to win a race in the series, but it came in the most unusual circumstances. The rookie driver overcame a one-lap deficit twice and then conserved enough fuel before the event was called 28 laps short of the 301-lap distance due to inclement weather. When Logano cut a tire and spun on lap 183, he pitted out of sequence from the race leaders. Several laps later, Scott Speed crashed hard into the wall, allowing Logano to get back on the lead lap via the “lucky dog” pass. While green-flag pit stops took place in the late-stages, Zipadelli made the call to keep Logano on the track as long as the fuel would hold up. It turned out to be the winning move. “We were lucky, but we put ourselves in position because we were behind,” Zipadelli said. “Because we did have the problems, it allowed us to pit, top off with fuel and do some of the things [early] that the guys up front that were guarding their track position [did later], which is pretty normal here.” — KC Star / Sports Network
Officials at Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports spent part of Sunday putting down another Danica Patrick rumor. This one, from an Internet blogger, implied that the companies are fighting over the IndyCar driver. The story offered no proof, only that “sources” have said that Rick Hendrick apparently has beaten Jack Roush, and that Patrick will replace Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Geoff Smith, president of Roush Fenway Racing, acknowledged that International Management Group is polling Cup teams, gauging their interest in one of America’s best-known racers. He said IMG hasn’t visited Roush Fenway yet, but it will.
“They’re talking to everybody over here, all the teams in the garage,” Smith said Sunday. “We’re in the loop, but we haven’t scheduled a meeting yet. Maybe we’ll have one pretty soon.” Autoweek
As soon as he checked his rearview mirror and saw the swirl of pinballing cars getting farther and farther away, Kyle Busch knew that on a day in which there was one wreck after another, the blame for the biggest of them all would fall at his brake pedal. The hate overflowed anyhow. “Kyle just lost his head like he usually does when something bad happens,” said Truex, 24th in the points after finishing 37th. “He decided he wasn’t going to lift [off the gas pedal]. He was going to turn me on the straightaway for no good reason at all.” After watching the replays from the Care Center with his No. 83 Toyota done for the day, Brian Vickers, 17th in the points and five spots out of the Chase, came to a quick conclusion. ???It looked like the 18 was completely impatient,?????? he said. Boston Globe
Scott Dixon described the IndyCar Series race at Richmond International Raceway as “a bit of a procession, unfortunately,” and said the 300-lap event was frustrating because the lack of passing made it more closely resemble a parade.
And he made those comments Saturday night after ending up in Victory Lane.
Teammate and runner-up Dario Franchitti apologized to fans for an “awful, awful race,” while Graham Rahal said he only passed two cars all night while finishing third.
One year after a 26-car field produced what Danica Patrick described as a “carnagefest” on the shortest track on the series, with 103 laps of caution and a dozen accidents, the latest visit was quite the opposite. Twenty cars spent the night speeding single file around the D-shaped oval, with none of the drama fans are accustomed to seeing in NASCAR country.
On Tuesday, IndyCar Series officials and those of International Speedway Corp., which owns RIR, will meet to continue discussions about whether the series will return in 2010. sportsillustrated
Teenager Joey Logano became the youngest winner in the history of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Sunday, winning the rain-shortened race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The precocious 19-year-old rookie came back from a crash that put him a lap down earlier in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and won his first Cup race in his 20th start.
Logano was among a group of drivers who moved to the front of the field after getting out of sequence on fuel stops. The youngster took the lead when Ryan Newman, trying to stay on track as long as possible with rain threatening, ran out of gas on lap 264 in the event scheduled to go 301 laps.
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon moved into second and was steadily cutting into the lead as Logano, with a nearly empty gas tank, conserved as much fuel as possible. But the rain began falling three laps later.
The competitors ran six slow laps under caution before NASCAR put out a red flag in hopes of drying the track. But the rain began falling harder and the race was called after 273 laps. FoxSports
Ron Hornaday dominated the MemphisTravel.com 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday evening on his way to his second-consecutive win on the season, his second-consecutive win at Memphis, his third win overall on the year, and the third of his career at Memphis.
Come to think of it, Hornaday’s stats on the season sound an awful lot like his career stats at Memphis Motorsports Park.
With the win, Hornaday got his hands on the last Elvis trophy to be awarded for Truck Series wins at Memphis. The Memphis trophy will be redesigned for next year. examiner
Lately, Kyle Busch has dominated a lot of Nationwide Series races, leading the most laps, only to fall short of victory lane near the end. In Saturday’s Camping World RV Rental 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, that’s exactly what happened to his teammate Joey Logano. Logano led more than half the laps and then watched as Busch pulled away to more than a half-second lead on his way to the win.
It was Busch’s fifth Nationwide Series win in a season that has seen him lead more than half of the total laps ran so far. Examiner
New Hampshire appears to support Jarrett’s claim. Concord-area hotels don’t have vacancies this weekend, despite rates nearly double the norm for the season. Although only four of the season’s first 16 Cup races were sold out, with a week left NHMS officials were ahead of last year’s pace and “very confident” they would sell every seat by the time the green flag flies Sunday. Should that happen, it would be Loudon’s 29th consecutive sellout - and probably a product of the track’s aggressive pursuit of customers. — Concord Monitor
